Return game stifles UC

Nov. 17, 2010

Of all the players that UC lost from last year's Sugar Bowl team, none has been harder to replace than Mardy Gilyard, the Big East's leader in receptions, punt returns and kickoff returns in 2009. / Enquirer file/Gary Landers

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The University of Cincinnati Bearcats have found out this season just how much Mardy Gilyard's ability to return kicks meant to them during the past two years.

Of all the players that UC lost from last year's Sugar Bowl team, none has been harder to replace than Gilyard, the Big East's leader in receptions, punt returns and kickoff returns in 2009.

"We really miss him," said UC coach Butch Jones. "If you look at what Mardy was able to do the last couple years of flipping field position, even if the offense goes three and out, you're still playing a field position game with your defense. Just that threat of knowing that it can be six points any time you kick it to him is a great advantage."

That threat no longer exists for the Bearcats. UC has fallen from first to sixth in kickoff returns and from first to seventh in punt returns.

Since the UC defense ranks last in turnovers produced, that means the offense, although still one of the league's most potent, does not have the advantage of a short field very often.

"The biggest thing when you talk about our return game is hidden yardage," Jones said. "For every 100 yards, it's worth seven points. We haven't won the hidden yardage the last few weeks. The return game means so much to your team because it's the law of percentages of where you start, but it's also a momentum changer, it's confidence and it's the opportunity to score on any given play."

Last year, Gilyard, who now plays for the St. Louis Rams, averaged 30.5 yards per kickoff return, including two for touchdowns. He averaged 12.6 yards per punt return and returned one for a touchdown.

Gilyard frequently changed the course of a game with a return, most noticeably in the Big East title clincher last year at Pitt. With UC trailing 31-10 late in the first half, he returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to spark the Bearcats' comeback win.

When UC falls behind now, as it did at West Virginia last week and the week before against Syracuse, the path to recovery is much more difficult.

Jones believed he could find an adequate replacement for Gilyard from among the trio of D.J. Woods, Vidal Hazelton and Darrin Williams, but Hazelton was lost for the season in the opener at Fresno State with a torn ACL and Williams has been out with a sprained ankle since the Oklahoma game.

That has left Woods to handle both kickoff and punt returns and the results have not come close to last year's. Woods has averaged 22.3 yards per kickoff return and 9.4 per punt return. His longest kickoff return has been 37 yards, his longest punt return 25 yards. He also fumbled a punt return at a key juncture against Oklahoma.

Five other players have returned kickoffs this year, including freshman Anthony McClung - as well as Hazelton and Williams - but Jones said he has not considered replacing Woods with another punt returner.

"Catching a punt is an art and not very many people can do it," Jones said. "That's another part of our program that we have to recruit and continue to develop is punt returners and kick returners."